Friday, March 23, 2007

Lost stitch

As I am still without authorization to move forward with my next very important government project, today I occupied myself with menial labor at work all day. Specifically, I babysat a copy machine to make thousands of flyer's for one of our community programs. Seeing as how I am on the payroll of the communications department and am socialist at heart and therefore find dignity in all work, I didn't mind the babysitting. It gave me time to knit. Between pressing the START button every 25 copies, I worked on Tzurriz's second sock in FroebeFibers'sMelon Ball colorway. It was very productive, as I completed my first short-row heel.

Scott TC is modelling the sock here. He's such a handsome fellow. With a little work, I think he'll have a career in modeling. Just look the the high cheekbones and vacant stare. Marvelous raw material.

There is a missing stitch on the instep. I can't see a dropped stitch anywhere, so I turned the sock over to Scott TC for questioning. He first tried a mind meld, but the sock would not give up the location of the lost stitch. Nada. Then he and Duncan moved on to the good-cop/bad-cop routine. Scott was the bad cop. I'll tell you what. Tzurriz has created some very strong yarn here. It resisted the harshest interrogation techniques. I mean look at this guy. He can be very scary when he wants to. He broke me down years ago. After the questioning, Scott sentenced the reticent knit to the weekend in jail.

With that mishegas out of the way, there is a more interesting announcement to make. For those of you in the Chicago area, Chicago Tonight aired a story on knitting in our city on March 21. I just watched it for free on ComcastOn Demand. If you have this service and want to see the several minute segment, go to On Demand and look for the Get Local button. Access that menu and find WTTW. Chicago tonight will have about a week's work of shows there. The episodes aren't labelled, so you'll have to watch the first few minutes to find out if you've got the right one, you'll have to watch the first few minutes.

The segment included interviews with knitters at the Stitches Salon, some LYS's, and a men's group. Several of the interviewees talked about why they knit. Their goal was to show that knitting is not just for old ladies anymore and explored the origins of the knitting boom. One woman proposed that it was sparked by the September 11th attacks, but I'm not sure I buy that.

The show made me think about why I knit and what do I think led to the current popularity of knitting. I shall ponder this and report back tomorrow. Stay tuned for my purls of wisdom...